1,214 Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Acquired by Cigna Investments Inc. New

Cigna Investments Inc. New acquired a new stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,214 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRI. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 1.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,352,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,133,000 after buying an additional 44,464 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,591,541 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $240,832,000 after purchasing an additional 18,899 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,141,974 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $172,811,000 after purchasing an additional 132,643 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,004,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $152,066,000 after purchasing an additional 26,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steadfast Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.0% in the first quarter. Steadfast Capital Management LP now owns 933,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $155,951,000 after purchasing an additional 85,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $159.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $154.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.13.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of DRI stock opened at $159.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $161.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $176.84.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.08). Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 49.46%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is a positive change from Darden Restaurants’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.59%.

Insider Activity at Darden Restaurants

In other Darden Restaurants news, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,075,040.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Nana Mensah sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.90, for a total transaction of $201,294.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ricardo Cardenas sold 42,403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.68, for a total value of $7,279,747.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,075,040.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,116,030 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.